


not as bad as we pretend

by vipertooths



Series: IASIP [3]
Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Gen, Post-Season/Series 12, Pre-Season/Series 13, mac and dee bonding in their shitty mac and dee way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 02:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16461743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vipertooths/pseuds/vipertooths
Summary: Mac misses Dennis. He's maybe not the only one.





	not as bad as we pretend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [golden_geese](https://archiveofourown.org/users/golden_geese/gifts).



> Request: I just saw your post about how lonely mac must have been with dennis gone.... so you should write something about that! maybe mac bugging dee bc he misses dennis!!

Mac closes the door to his apartment, shutting himself into the oppressive silence. He kicks his shoes off and finds his eyes trailing to Dennis' door, as usual, but he forces himself to the kitchen instead. The fridge is empty and his stomach makes a noise of protest at the discovery.

With a sigh, he shuts the door and finds himself at a loss for what to do. He misses Dennis. He more than misses Dennis. For the first week, it was fine. They did things Dennis wouldn't like because they could, and Mac wasn't sure about the rest of the gang, but he'd just assumed Dennis would be back within a few days. Dennis couldn't last in the suburbs and that was _with_ the company of his best friend.

He considers the fact that maybe, _maybe_ , Dennis just likes it better out there. Out there with his _family_. Thinking about family always makes his chest inexplicably tight, so he pushes the thought away and tries to find something to occupy his time. He pulls out his phone and calls Charlie, who sounds breathless when he answers.

"Hey, man, I'm kind of busy right now."

There's some loud noises in the background along with some that Mac can't pinpoint. He's not really sure that he wants to; it's always been better for his peace of mind to ignore most of the weird shit that Charlie does.

The Waitress calls out, clearly angry, and Charlie mutters a curse under his breath. "Listen, I gotta take care of this. Did you need something?"

"Nah, it wasn't important."

"All right, bye."

"Bye," Mac says, even though Charlie's already hung up. He sighs and picks up the TV remote to browse the pay-per-view movies. There's a few on the list that he's interested in, but he can't bring himself to watch them without Dennis. He groans and wipes a hand over his face. His phone lies next to him, tauntingly. He wants to dial the number Dennis left him again, just to make sure he hadn't messed it up before, but he's done that about ten times already. He picks up the phone anyway, fingers hovering over the number pad. He ends up dialing Dee instead.

"What do you want?" Dee answers. "I'm busy."

Mac rolls his eyes. "Oh yeah? Doing what?"

She hesitates and he smirks. "Yeah, I thought so."

"Shut up, Mac, it's not like you're out having the time of your life right now either. What do you even want?"

Now it's his turn to hesitate, because did he really call Dee for the reason he thinks he did? His eyes slide over to Dennis' door again and he shuts his eyes, staves off the wave of longing. "Do you want to come over and watch a movie?"

Dee's pause is even longer than his was. "Do I want to come over and watch a movie?"

"That's what I said, Dee!"

"Hmm. No."

He groans. "You bitch."

It would make sense to hang up the phone, but neither of them do. He wonders if she misses Dennis too. She _is_ his sister, after all, and even birds must have hearts.

"I'm buying Chinese food," he finds himself saying, rubbing a hand over his stomach.

"I'll be there in ten."

+

"That was the stupidest goddamn movie I've ever seen," Dee complains and snatches the remote from his hand. "I'm picking the next one."

"It was not stupid. You obviously can't appreciate good cinema."

She snorts at him and resituates herself on the couch so that her feet are uncomfortably close to his thigh. He glares down at them in disgust, but she doesn't move. "The only thing you appreciated about that movie was all the shirtless men in it."

"Well, as a gay man, I appreciated it, yeah, but that's _not_ the only reason I liked the movie."

"You keep telling yourself that, buddy." She finally settles on a movie, one that looks like some chick flick bullshit.

He sighs and regrets inviting her over before reaching for a carton of chicken and broccoli, finding it empty. "You ate it all! What the hell, Dee?"

"I paid for it!"

He places the empty carton back down and picks up the small container of white rice instead. He squeezes a packet each of duck sauce and soy sauce on top before mixing it together and digging in. "What is this about, anyway?"

"Just watch it and find out," she says, sliding down until her toes are underneath him. He rolls his eyes, but doesn't really feel like dealing with her.

+

He tells her the movie sucked just for the point of it, even though he didn't mind it too much. She complains about his taste in film and tells him she's not coming over again before leaving, and he can feel sleep tug at him after she's gone.

He stands up and takes a step toward his room before turning and heading for Dennis'. He climbs into the bed, which still smells like Dennis, and falls asleep within seconds.

**Author's Note:**

> @golden_geese i'm not sure if this is what you were expecting, but i hope you enjoyed this ficlet regardless. :)
> 
> also yes mac ordered chinese and then realized he is broke so dee paid for it lmao


End file.
